With just a few days to go to Halloween, you might think that the @GreenMoms would be blogging about fair trade chocolate, trick or treat for Unicef, reverse trick or treating, or some other do-gooder topic.

To spice things up a bit this year, Deanna of Crunchy Chicken – the one who puts the “mental” in EnvironMental – suggested we blog about death. Green death, green burials, the green hereafter: whatever.

Instead, Bermudian families have family tombs into which they place deceased family members, one on top of the other. Well, not right away, anyway! You must wait a year before opening up a grave to bury another family member.

Over time, the cedar caskets decompose, making room for more family members. Unlike American cemeteries, which take up large plots of land, the Bermudian cemeteries are compact (like the island) and would never run out of land if operated according to tradition.

This arrangement worked well until Bermudians began moving abroad, which really began in earnest after the American Naval base was opened in the 1940s. American GIs left the island with Bermudian wives. Today, Bermudians leave to attend college abroad, and some never return home until their final visit. Then they return to the island embalmed, in a non-decomposing metal casket, which sometimes are so large it can be hard to fit the deceased into the traditional family plot.

So back to our carnival….thinking about my family traditions and Bermuda gave me this idea: Bermuda is known today as a destination wedding site. Wouldn’t it be amazing if Bermuda invented a “green destination burial” tradition too?

Of course, there’s probably a law against it.

And flying all those bodies in wouldn’t do much for the environment, either.

Aerial view of Bermuda Islands, courtesy of Wikipedia.org

But perhaps we could adapt some of these old Bermudian ways to our own burial traditions. I’ve always hated the sight of huge cemeteries – such a waste of land.

Care to start a family plot? I used to think of it as my family tradition. Now I think of it as a greener way to say good-bye.

About

I was motivated to start OrganicMania because I found that in order to make sense of my organic purchases, I had to do so much research, it was crazy! People suggested that I share my opinions and my research, and now here I am, blogging about it. read more...

Recent Pins.

OrganicMania™, Your Guide to Making Sense of Healthy Green Living. OrganicMania.com is a property of Miller Strategic Marketing, LLC. Copyright 2007-2009. All Rights Reserved. OrganicMania™, Your Guide to Making Sense of Healthy Green Living™, and How to Raise Green Kids Without Going Crazy™ are all trademarks of Miller Strategic Marketing LLC